Chapter 56 Survivor’s Statement
Lynn led Delphine to a wooden shack tucked away in one of the deepest alleys in this crowded red light district.
Lynn knocked lightly on the door, and soon heard someone approaching, dragging their feet.
Soon the door opened, but only with the clank of a lock.
A gruff voice peeked through the crack, barely big enough to fit a finger.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me… The red rose.”
Lynn added.
It was probably a code word for La Rouge.
“Oh no, why have you come again? I thought I told you not to come again!”
The man on the other side of the door shouted in a very uneasy tone.
Lynn was completely unfazed and replied calmly.
“… The price of your testimony. Don’t you need it? It’s about time the price of liquor dropped.”
“…”
There was silence beyond the old door.
Soon, with a clang the man on the other side of the door began to undo the lock.
After a while, they were finally able to step through the open door.
The man didn’t even bother to say goodbye and began to re-lock the door again.
Why so many locks on a flimsy wooden door that looks like it could break if you kicked it?
The smell of alcohol filled the small house, which was barely big enough for the three of us to stand in.
There were empty liquor bottles lying around.
Can they really trust this man’s testimony?
As Delphine scanned the room with skepticism, the man with the lock on the door spun around and called out.
“You come to ask me about the blonde demon again?”
Delphine repeated in a small voice at the contextless question.
“… A blonde demon?”
“Yes!”
The man shouted, his whole body shaking like a madman.
“The same demon… Who murdered a thousand people in one month!”
What was he talking about?
Delphine asked calmly, trying to stifle a shudder.
“Tell me more. What did the blonde demon do to you?”
“Literally. It’s been a year now, maybe a year? One day, he appeared out of nowhere in this alley.”
The man began to shudder, his whole body shaking.
Then, as if to calm his nerves, he gingerly lifted the bottle of liquor to his mouth and answered.
“And then he started picking out and killing men entering and leaving the red light district, lurking in the shadows, quieter than anyone else, stronger than anyone else…”
The man’s eyes glazed over as he gasped in fear, as if recalling something.
“It was the same that day. I was in my room, in my room with the other guests… when he appeared! He killed five people at once that day.”
Only now did Delphine realize why Lynn had referred to the man as a survivor.
“And you…”
“I hid in a trash can in my room and barely survived. I’m probably the only one…”
The man rattled off.
“They say the devil never misses a target once he sets his sights on one.”
Delphine was speechless for a moment, confused.
A ‘blonde demon’ was a name she’d never heard before.
Was there such a horrific event in the Empire?
Had it happened in District 3 and she hadn’t heard of it?
“It’s a name no one remembers now except this man.”
Sensing Delphine’s question, Lynn spoke calmly.
No one remembers Ioannes except for one person.
The familiarity of the story gave Delphine a chill and she wrapped her arms around her.
‘So, that blonde demon is… Ioan?’
The man who had been shouting at the top of his lungs suddenly seemed frightened, checking each lock on the door.
“Yeah. No one remembers. No one… Uh, how can that be?”
He seemed out of sorts, as if he’d been obsessing and fearing for years.
“That’s all you need to hear.”
Lynn interrupted the man’s rant in a very unemotional tone.
Tossing the man a few gold coins, he led Delphine back out of the house.
She glanced back just before the door closed again.
The man was alone in the dark room, muttering to himself.
“No one remembers… That blonde demon… This is weird… This is something wrong…”
The door slammed shut again.
The sound of the man re-locking several locks echoed in the narrow alley.
As they exited the alley again, they discussed in low voices.
“Until now, people remembered that Pride became a hero a year ago, putting down the rebellion in District 3.”
That is, until Delphine showed up and told them the truth.
“But Delphine said he was a slave, escaped to District 3 three years ago, and half a year ago, he suddenly appeared before you as a Marquis and asked for your… hand in marriage.”
Delphine nodded.
The survivor’s timeframe had been a year ago, too.
“According to that man’s testimony, the blond demon was very powerful and strategic, but within human range.”
In other words, up until that point, Ioannes had been a fully human being, not using magical powers.
In other words, it was only afterward that Ioannes gained some sort of immense, inhuman power.
And he used that power to manipulate the memories of people throughout the Empire, transforming himself into a Marquis.
“… That’s the story, right?”
Delphine organized her thoughts and delivered them, and Lynn nodded in admiration.
“That’s right. That’s what Belly said, too.”
But there were still a number of questions that remained unanswered.
The most puzzling was why she was the only one who remembered Ioannes’s past in its entirety.
“Why on earth…?”
Delphine asked, confused.
“Does it have something to do with his ability to charge phosphium?”
Lynn hesitated, unable to answer right then and there.
“Do some research on his birth, especially his maternal side.”
Something Belly had secretly instructed her to do.
… Should he share it with her?
Not then, but now, wasn’t she one of their own?
Belly had told them not to tell her until everything was clear, but she had a right to know.
“Delphine.”
“Yes?”
“Well, actually…”
Lynn had made up his mind and was about to tell Delphine.
A loud vibrating sound emanated from his arm.
Lynn pulled out his walkie-talkie and quickly put it to his mouth.
“What’s going on?”
The reply from the other side of the black object was terse.
[“Emergency, Marquis of Pride, returning to the manor.”]
Ioannes was returning to the manor?
Surely he was relieved to be away for a few days?
Delphine’s face turned blue for a moment.
She had left Lynn’s doll in the study, but he would have noticed the oddity at once.
“Don’t worry.”
Lynn said, squeezing the phosphorus and taking Delphine’s hand without hesitation.
“I’ll take you to… Before that man returns.”
Delphine nodded quickly and vigorously instead of the clichéd okay.
***
“Where is my wife?”
A thick, low voice, an unfamiliarly cold tone.
Pride’s voice drifted through the gaping doorway of the chamber.
“The lady, she’s in her study!”
Betty answered quickly, her face tense with nervousness.
“Has she not yet told… That I have returned home?”
“Well, no, of course not! But, uhhh… She said she had a book she wanted to finish today, and that you shouldn’t disturb her…”
“Interrupt.”
Pride’s voice dropped even lower.
He hadn’t been pleased with the maid’s behavior before, hovering by Delphine’s side.
Betty blushed white and hastily corrected herself.
“No, I mean, sir, I don’t mean to disturb you, but…!”
“I’m here.”
Just then, a calm voice sounded from the doorway of the quarters.
Delphine entered the room, dragging her dress in a graceful manner.
Her luscious hair flowed in waves, and there was not the slightest trace of her hasty return to the study and hasty change of clothes.
“My Lady.”
Pride called out to her, his face instantly affectionate.
If the door hadn’t been open, no one would have guessed that he was the same man who had been chastising the maid in a cold voice just moments before.
“My Lady, My Lady.”
Betty, who had been dealing with him, called out to Delphine in a voice that sounded as if it had relaxed.
She had done very well, as she had instructed her before leaving the manor, just in case.
Delphine smiled warmly at her in praise, and then gave her permission to leave the room.
Betty hurried out of the room as if she had been waiting for her.
“I didn’t realize I’d lost track of time reading your novel.”
Delphine turned to Pride and smiled.
“You’ll be away from the manor for a few days, and I’ve ordered the maids not to let anyone disturb me.”
“The job was done sooner than I thought.”
Pride replied with a soft smile.
Delphine secretly swallowed a sigh of relief at his usual behavior.
‘… Doesn’t seem suspicious.’
La Rouge’s report that he’d decided to make the move on a whim had made him a little nervous.
How the hell he’d gotten from District 3 to here so quickly was beyond her, but any delay could have been disastrous.
‘Good thing I teleported here as soon as I heard the comm.’
With that thought, Delphine slowly turned away from him.
At that moment, she heard a casual voice behind her.
“… By the way, My Lady. Are you sure you’ve been studying?”
